Materials innovation from I.S.T Corp.

Competitors like China, Taiwan, and South Korea have been replicating the Japanese monozukuri process, but at a cheaper price. Yet, Japan’s high technology and high precision products remain supreme. Why do you believe this has been the case and what role has monozukuri played in this?

Japanese monozukuri has its root in our traditional values of diligence and constant improvement. We know what appears to be a weak area, or even just the slightest inconvenience, can be turned into an advantage. So, we always like to work hard to improve things.

How do you ensure the quality of your products when producing overseas? 

I.S.T manufactures inside Japan and we don’t take our development or production outside the country. From production methods, production lines, measuring and testing methods, to products themselves, everything we use, we create in-house. Keeping the entire R&D and manufacturing process a black box and maintaining a good security over our technologies is our way of ensuring the highest quality products. At the product level, having full automation production lines minimizes human errors.

How do you plan to take advantage of your industry’s expected growth both domestically and internationally?

I do believe we are in an industry set to grow. For example, with increased sensitivity to the environment, electric cars are becoming more popular, and of course, 5G radio wave innovation is highly demanded. Lightweight products, which reduces weights from automobiles and airplanes are also in high demand because weights consume more energy.

We have been fortunate that what we produced have been met by market trends. While we have always strived to develop and produce highly unique, value-added, and specialized materials, such as high-temperature resistance plastics, Polyimide, to stay ahead, we aren't always sure if our products would meet the market’s needs.

What is the importance of the US and Chinese markets for your company?

It’s actually much easier for us to initially target the US and European markets for our new, unique products. These markets are much more receptive to new materials that haven’t been used before; they want to be the first to use these materials and brand-new parts as a selling point for their finished products. Whereas in Asia, pricing tends to be the first priority over quality or novelty. Once we gain a strong recognition for our products, hopefully Asian markets will respond as well.

What is your strategy to tackle the European and US markets?

We don’t want to sell our products just for being “new”.  The sporting goods markets in the Europe and US have great environments and supports for top athletes who compete in the most severe conditions. We believe these markets are ideal to prove the quality and high technologies of our products. Once the quality and our innovations are proven in the most competitive conditions and markets, I believe that will lead us to the global market. 

What is your main competitive advantage?

We are certain that, as a company, we will never fail as long as we continue our research. We are a company that never gives up and we will continue to explore solutions after solutions until we find the right one. We can be the best because of this approach, that is, we research the market, we discuss a great deal, and once we decide on a theme, we stay focused and remain confident in our choice, and will continue pursuing to no end until we find the right solution. 

What is the role and importance of R&D in your company?

When my father founded the company, his intention was to keep his company small and do research and development to sell new technologies. But Canon learned about his first successful business of a non-flammable fabric and approached him, and later on, a new joint R&D started with Canon for their product. After this joint-development project, we took on the role of manufacturer to this day despite his initial intention.

Staying with our roots, that’s how R&D is important to us. On third of our employees are solely focused on R&D, 8-10% of our sales funds R&D. 

What is the role of co-creation in your company?

We believe having the right co-creator can bring our innovations to the right market.

Being a materials-based brand, we don’t necessarily possess particular knowledge for the field of finished products. That is why we welcome partners for joint development.

For our entrance into the sporting goods industry, we are working with a market leader in the sporting goods in Europe. We’ve been sending our latest innovation super fiber to this company for making their testing samples. They will use the entirety of 2021 to test their new products made with our super fibers, and in the following season we expect to release the products to the market.

Could you tell us about your original brands and your vision for them?

It used to be that people see our name, I.S.T, and think we manufacture complex products. With the recent launch of two original brands of our own, we want to make I.S.T a more recognizable brand name directly among consumers. Also we want them to experience our technologies; touch and feel what we develop.

What is your midterm strategy for growth? 

Our major business is in office automation, with products such as laser printers. In addition to this, I want to grow two new lines of businesses, a super fiber, IMIDETEX®, and transparent Polyimide film, TORMED®, so our business grows three-fold. We had completed the development of these new technologies a few years ago and now we are focusing on making them more widely used. I believe this will happen because they are very well developed, and the market is already with us in terms of what is demanded. 

What would you like the I.S.T brand to stand for and what would you like to tell customers? If we return in three years, what would you like to tell us and have accomplished by then?

We want I.S.T to be synonymous with high quality, known globally.  I’d like to keep our number of employees the same because I don’t want to focus on making the company big just for the sake of being big, but instead, keep the company the right size with high profits. I want our employees to be highly motivated, wealthy, with happy lives for them and their families. I want our shared goal to be happier and more prosperous for each other and ourselves.